Faisal hails football team’s display at Damascus
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat on Monday expressed satisfaction and congratulated Pakistan national football team for their stubborn and high-spirited display against Asian Cup holders Iraq in Asian Phase (Second Round- second leg) of 19th World Cup Soccer Qualifier at Syrian capital of Damascus ‘s Abbasiyyin Stadium yesterday.
Egil Olsen’s Asian champions were held to a surprising draw by Pakistan, despite a full-strength squad with the likes of Noor Hassan, Nashat Akram, Hawar Mulla and Mahdi Kareem taking the field.
“To restrict Asian Powerhouse to scoreless draw shows that our footballers have courage, exuberant to face more skilful opponents. Following a big 7-0 win at Lahore on Monday last, Iraq were expected to beat Pakistan with another big scoreline but this time Pakistanis were alert and foiled all the attempts of Iraq. To play Asian Champions is itself an honor, and to keep them away from scoring for one and half hour is something special”
“It was morale victory for Pakistan as they are 114 places below Iraq in FIFA World Ranking while in the World Cup seedings for Asian teams they are in 35th spot as compared to 12th of Iraq ,” said Faisal who is also Federal Minister for Environment.
It was big agony, frustration for 3000 Iraqis supporters who came to Damascus for another heavy win against Pakistan but they returned home in dismal mood as Pakistan foiled all their attempts. Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was also present and had to watch a sensational result.
Pakistan ‘s display was vulnerable in previous World Cup meetings between the two abroad when they lost to them 6-1 in 1997. Both the teams also locked horn in 1994 World Cup Qualifiers with Iraq getting 12 goals without reply in two legs : winning 8-0 at Jordan and 4-0 at China in May-June 1993. This is first time in the history of matches between two nations that Pakistan had not allowed them a single goal in 90-minutes play.
Faisal observed that the team won the hearts of soccer fans back home through team performance and industrious performance and hoped that National team would continue their spirited fashion in Second AFC Challenge Cup at Chinese Taipei and SAFF Championship at Sri Lanka/Maldives next year. Pakistan also showed gutsy display against the Arabian teams UAE, Oman and Jordan in 14th Asian Cup last year who are from 63rd to 99th in FIFA Ranking as compared to Pakistan’s 165.
Faisal specially praised the fantastic game strategy of coach Akhtar Mohiuddin and said that the performance of debutant keeper Iltaf Ahmed from Bradford ( England) as well as foreign players Zeeshan Rehman, Adnan Ahmed and Amjad Iqbal was tuned to perfection. He also appreciated skipper Muhammad Essa, Tanveer Ahmed and Samar Ishaq, saying they supervised the team the way through and they deserve to be in limelight.
Akhtar Mohiuddin fielded following team against Iraq : Iltaf Ahmed, Tanveer Ahmed, Samar Ishaq, Zeeshan Rehman, Farooq Shah, Adnan Ahmed, Amjad Iqbal (Muhammad Irfan 68), Abbas Ali, Muhammad Essa, Muhammad Qasim, Shahid Ahmed (Imran Niazi 78)